Sometimes I get bored with the characters WWE creative gives their wrestlers. So, I like to make up new ones. My all time favorite creation is “Racist Rey Mysterio Jr.”, with Nazi Propagandist Dolph Ziggler a close second. But tonight there is one more character I’m going to introduce you to in this edition of the Monday Night Raw recap.

But first …

Its been reported, but not confirmed, that WWE is giving Twitter money to be promoted as a partner in some of Twitter’s new initiatives. This may also explain why stuff trends on Twitter during Raw, but not on Smackdown!, which shares similar ratings to Raw. The WWE is an advertising partner of Twitter, and in the past Twitter has demonstrated that they can manipulate trending topics. So, Raw trends on Twitter because the WWE is giving Twitter money.

Even though it has yet to be confirmed, I’d say this is highly likely to be the case between these two companies, and although there’s nothing technically wrong with the arrangement, it’s dishonest to wrestling fans and to people who use Twitter.

So, I kind of have a problem with WWE constantly droning on and on about Twitter on their show. Or as they did today, have people vote in a poll using Twitter.

If you want proof that the “social media” experiment with the WWE is a joke, you don’t need to look at the obvious stuff like ratings, attendance, stock, and merchandise sales all being down. You just have to look at Zach Ryder. There’s a guy who made himself popular on the Internet (being a WWE superstar gives him enough credibility and goodwill to actually build an audience, something none of us have the luxury of), and where is he? Zach Ryder shows up for maybe thirty seconds on any given show, and that’s only on rare occasions to make a stupid face or use his catch phrase which makes him sound mentally disabled.

The fact that this guy organically made himself popular using the Internet, and is being buried by the company in the way that he is, especially during a time of absolutely zero roster depth for the WWE, should tell you everything you need to know about how the company really feels about the Internet and what the online fans think.

5 Thoughts On Tonight’s Edition Of Monday Night Raw

1. I noticed that lately, when the WWE superstars come to the ring, they have a little advertisement that pops up reminding fans that they can download that wrestler’s music on iTunes. I’m not quite sure what you’d do with Kane’s entrance music, but if it were me? I’d use Kane’s theme song for when I was out roaming through people’s garbage cans late at night. That just seems like the kind of music you can get things done to, you know?

Speaking of Kane, he didn’t have such a great night either. He told AJ he wanted nothing to do with her, and then it was announced he would be one of the participants in the WWE Championship Money In The Bank Ladder Match, which since it involves John Cena, means that Kane will lose.

It’s too bad the story with Kane and AJ looks to be ending too because Kane hasn’t been this relevant since he was conducting medical malpractice in the ring as a pretend dentist.

2. I’ve always been a big fan of Chris Jerico, another of the WWE Championship Money In The Bank participant, but seeing as how he looks to be done with the company after SummerSlam, he reminds me more and more of A-Rod on the Yankees these days.

A-Rod knows he has to play in order to collect on his massive tumor of a contract, but that doesn’t mean he has to play well either. So sometimes he plays like he cares, and other times he has this lazy, “Screw you, I make money” swing where he’s only got one hand on his bat as he finishes his motion. Chris Jericho is now the WWE’s A-Rod, minus the steroids (although Jericho has admitted to using in his second book, Undisputed), and Jericho can still put out an entertaining match and promo when he wants. But right now, he clearly doesn’t want to do that.

You can almost hear the boredom in Chris Jerico’s voice, and that’s kind of sad because when he actually cares, he’s better than anyone else the WWE has, and right now with their roster issues, they don’t exaclty have the luxury of having guys phone it in because they rather play Guitar Hero in Eastern Europe where metal is still metal and nobody showers, not even when the Pope comes to visit.

The WWE needs Chris Jerico, but Chris Jericho doesn’t need them anymore, and we’re all suffering for it.

3. Monday Night Raw, for perhaps the first time in its almost 1,000 episode history, started with a promo featuring AJ, a woman whom I, and the rest of the smart people with too much time on their hands who also write wrestling columns, have pointed out is a fully fleshed out female character. Perhaps the first since Trish Stratus that actually got major screen time. That’s quite a vote of confidence for a company that otherwise tells people to rise above hate while simultaneously treating their women like crap.

Of course, eventually this story with AJ is going to end, and probably the worst will happen where she’ll disapear among the women who look like they should be cleaning up championships at Hooters wet t-shirt contests, but for now having her open Monday Night Raw was huge, and for one night, and probably one night only, all was right in the world of professional wrestling and their treatment of women.

4. I didn’t post a Smackdown! recap this week because absolutely nothing happened. And although there is a world title triple threat match planned for this Friday involving Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and that guy who sounds like a villain from a Saturday morning cartoon, Dolph Ziggler, I can safely bet you $5 that nothing of importance is going to happen.

AND if it does, it’ll quickly either be forgotten or mentioned as a throw-away “by the way” kind of thing like they did tonight with the Big Show being a participant in the WWE Championship Money In The Bank match. So, I’ll continue watching Smackdown! and if something actually happens or there’s something to write about, I will do a post, but for the foreseeable future it’s just going to be me writing about …

Live Smackdown! aside though, don’t expect too mant Smackdown! write-ups. WWE has set things up so that you don’t need to watch any of their shows besides Raw, and that’s not totally a bad thing. Seven hours of wrestling a week (Raw, Smackdown, the new one-hour Wednesday night show on Ion, and TNA Impact Wrestling is a lot to take in. And that’s not even counting NXT and Superstars.)

5. I gotta share this about the Funkasaurus. Racist Rey Mysterio would be an awesome character, but you know what’d be even better? The Funkasaurus if he was a pedophile. Why else do you think they announce him as being in captivity?

Kind of puts him dancing around with all those children in a new light huh? A creepy one.

Brandon Mendelson is the resident WWE expert. He’ll be giving his opinions on Raw, Smackdown and the entire WWE Universe. Get used to it.